100 Days of Leo Burnett, the Midwestern Master of Mascots DAY 28
Here’s today’s Leo:
“A really good creative person is more interested in earnestness than in glibness and takes more satisfaction out of converting people than in ‘wowing‘ them.” — Leo Burnett
In The Art of Writing Advertising | Conversations with Masters of the Craft, AdAge Interviewer Denis Higgins talks to Leo Burnett:
Q: Copywriters were working Saturdays even in those days…
A: Yes. And this was a big account — I mean, it looked potentially very big — it looked like maybe a $2,000,000 account, based on our intended budget, which was very big in those days. I walked into Art Kudner’s office, introduced myself, told him who I was. I said “Would you take this account?” He said, “We sure would!” So I spent the rest of the day with him; we had lunch together and I got acquainted with Art. I found him banging the typewriter in his office — he was copy chief then. I later discovered that Obie Winters — I didn’t know this at the time, and this had no influence on my selection — but Obie Winters, who had gotten me to Detroit, gotten me in the automobile business, had just come to work for Erwin Wasey from Green, Fulton & Cunningham. And so it was a reunion with Obie. And, additionally, getting acquainted with Art.
Erwin Wasey was all in Chicago in those days. It was a very happy arrangement; they did some great work for LaFayette. I was in the middle of all that, and I learned a lot from Art, as well as from Obie and others at Erwin Wasey. Then I went to work for Homer McKee and I left LaFayette and Art told me when I left: If you ever are interested in a job, get in touch with me.